Heh….the EPA scam on Delaware. Let’s talk about this mock cop funeral and Markell’s many pardons. Much more snark, gossip and some good information in this Delaware tidbits.
Markell Pardons in Abundance
Gov. Jack Markell has signed 1,569 pardons during his six-plus years in office, more than any other Delaware governor. The vast majority were awarded to people with minor offenses.
An interesting statistic. This is from Delaware Online and the article goes on to give an example of a Markell pardon gone bad.
Which is no big deal, goodness, presidential wannabe Mike Huckabee pardoned some criminal who murdered a woman within a month of his release.
Still and so, more pardons than any other Governor, huh?
Lewes trying to extend council terms
The current term for a Lewes council person is two years. They want to make it three.
My advice? Be wary of elected folks wanting to extend their terms in office. Could be a power grab.
Lewes Mayor Ted Becker and the City Council are looking to modify their charter to extend terms from two to three years.
According to Mayor Becker extending to three year terms would allow members to provide a better service to the community.
Alan Levin to retire.
Former Happy Harry’s guru, Alan Levin, is stepping down from his position as Director of the Delaware Economic Development Office.
Want an inside story on Levin? Right before Levin got appointed by Markell he was thinking of running for Governor. At the time Ron Sams was the head of the Sussex Republican party. Man Levin took Sams for a long and foolish ride. Ron told me that he was pretty sure Levin would accept the nomination. Then boom, out of nowhere Levin gets appointed to this handsome job. Turns out Levin was only flirting with the possibility of running for Governor all as part of teasing to get this job.
All in all Levin did bring some new business to Delaware. But he messed up on the Fiskar thing. Him and Mike Castle.
Levin, a Cabinet secretary to Gov. Jack Markell, made the announcement on Thursday.
Levin has directed the Delaware Economic Development Office since Markell’s first term began in January 2009. The agency has awarded millions to corporations in an attempt to attract jobs to Delaware and keep them here.
Cursive Writing proposal
HB52 is out of committee and it is a bill that will require that all school children learn cursive writing.
Man I went to Catholic school and I have a beautiful handwriting and cannot imagine anything less. Also lots of humility on my part.
Seriously, I lament, for the flourish and beauty of my penmanship, including the winning of many handwriting contests, and wonder what the hell good is it? But you gotta sign your name sometimes people and kids need to learn how to do it!
A Mock Cop Funeral? Weird.
So I came across this story of a mock cop funeral held in Dover and I said that the hell?
“This is a fully functional exercise, complete with a closed casket viewing,” said State Rep. Steve Smyk, R-Lewes-Milton, a retired state trooper who attended the service. “They went to considerable lengths to make the details as authentic as possible.”
Police officers from 14 states — including Wyoming, Utah, Texas, and South Dakota — participated in the ceremony. They were joined by Delaware State Police as well as officers from Delaware municipalities and state agencies.
The quote above is from Steve Smyk, mine own representative in the Delaware House.
With all the publicity involving cops, serious, what is the purpose of this? Are we planning a wave of cop funerals in our futures?
More on the Sussex Tech vote
So I got all the voting right on the Sussex Tech thing.
The House guys who voted against the property tax increase, and do not call it anything less, included: Colliins, Matthews, and K. Williams. The Senate voting against it included: Pettyjohn, Richardson, Simpson, Townsend with Bonini absent for the vote.
Scuttlebutt has it that the ruckus made by Rich Collins’ NOVOTE caused the Senators to get nervous. They knew the bill was going to pass, indeed it was very important that it pass that those many students enrolled beyond the limit can finish their high school education.
But we will never know, will we?
The EPA and Delaware air…..here’s the scam.
Came across this from the fabulous Cesar Rodney folks:
In 2014, for the first time, Delaware met all Air Quality Standards for every measured pollutant. Yet the American Lung Association (ALA) just released a report giving Delaware an “F” grade for air quality. How could that be?
Start by following the money. The ALA received $20 million in grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the last decade, and generally advocates for tougher regulations. The EPA has a self interest in maintaining the impression air quality is in crisis. No crisis means less funding and fewer jobs at the EPA which writes and enforces the standards.
This sums it up perfectly, how bureaucracies thrive on the public teat. They use tricks and sneakery. And when DNREC grows up it wants to be the EPA.
======================================
I do not respond to comments on my posts. I certainly have no problem with such commentary and, indeed, encourage it. But I’ve written my piece and I don’t want to argue it further.
Please feel free to email me at patfish1@aol.com if you want to send me a special comment or have any ideas or information you want to share.
NEXT : Going to do the National Scene, political talk shows.
DSP holds a week long training program every two years for the procedures of doing Honor Guard duty at police funerals. The ritual and regalia are very complex. Police come from all over the US to train here at the DSP Academy, and it is actually amazing how many agencies came. Utah, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Alabama, New Hampshire, Wyoming were some of the Honor Guard Units that attended. The Mock Funeral is the “final exam” so to speak at the conclusion of the week long training. The conference included funeral home staff, training officers, state and local police officials from Delaware, members from the Chesapeake Vault Company, etc. Everything was done as if it were real. Police Honors are not just for those killed in the line of duty. Any officer who dies while in service, even from a terminal illness is eligible for honors, as well as retirees in good standing. There are levels of honors, and obviously those killed in the line of duty get the most representation and regalia. There are many, many, many police funerals in a given year, and Delaware has the honor of running the training program serving the whole nation. So that’s the deal. Not expecting more police funerals, just serving the ones that have been going on for years.
And the Pat Fish idiocy continues.
Alan Levin was approached to run for governer AGAINST JACK MARKELL. He didn’t get offered the DEDO job until AFTER JACK MARKELL WAS ELECTED. Christ, but you’re stupid, and proud of it, too.
Why are Republicans so against clean air standards that protect the public health? Do you hate your kids or is it that you love to shill for polluter despots? And of course you people deny emperical science and replace it with religious dogma. A dying party of old bitter clingers.
Interesting how any time established, peer reviewed science goes against the wishes of the polluter financial backers of your old angry white party, you reflexively deny science. Same ilk who jailed Galileo. Amazing how people can be of such low moral and intellectual development that they lack the ability to be embarassed at their own folly. They party slowly dies in front of your faces.